Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/240

214 "Yet they recoiled;—whether it were the sight Of us, in our salt-crusted robes bedight; Or Trophimus' calm brow which beamed on them, As wreathed with a celestial diadem; Or tear-veiled Magdalene, who stood between us,— How tenfold fairer than their sculptured Venus!

"And the old saint resumed: 'Arlesian men, Hear ye my message first; and slay me then, If need be. Ye have seen your goddess famed Shiver like glass when my God was but named: Deem not, Arlesians, that the thing was wrought By my poor, feeble voice; for we are naught.

"'The God who laid, erewhile, your idol low No lofty temple hath on the hill's brow; But Day and Night see him alone up there! And stern to sin, but generous to prayer, Is he; and he hath made, with his own hand, The sky, the sea, the mountains, and the land.

"'One day he saw, from his high dwelling-place, All his good things devoured by vermin base; Slaves who drank hatred with their tears, and had No comforter; and Evil, priestly clad, At altars keeping school; and, in the street, Maids who ran out the libertines to meet.